1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to the removal of asbestos or other hazardous materials from an area of limited contamination, and more particularly to a new and improved portable containment and disposal device for use during such removal.
2. Description Of Prior Art
Asbestos-containing pipe insulation takes many forms, including chalky mixtures of magnesia and asbestos, preformed fibrous asbestos wrapping, asbestos fiber felt, corrugated paper, and insulating cement. In most cases, the insulating material is covered with a protective jacket (lagging) made of cloth, tape, paper, metal or cement. Occasionally, asbestos millboard is used as outside lagging on removable insulating covers for stiffness. Lagging on pipes and boilers prevents spontaneous fiber release and helps protect against disturbance.
Exposure to airborne asbestos regardless of the level, involves some health risks. When damage occurs to asbestos insulation and lagging on pipes and valves, repair and/or removal of the material is essential. The potential for exposure to airborne asbestos during such operations cannot be ignored. Worker protection is essential and is, in general, demanded by law. Proper work area containment is highly recommended for all abatement techniques. Once abatement work begins, all uninvolved persons should be kept out of the area.
Containment typically means construction of barriers with 6 mil polyethylene plastic sheets joined with folded seams, and with sealing tape at the seams and boundaries. Air locks and worker decontamination facilities with showers are recommended. So, too, are negative air pressure systems.
It should be noted that the removal of the asbestos insulation from the pipes and valves still requires safe packaging of the material for removal from the containment area for ultimate disposition. As a result, the use of protective apparatus in the form of flexible bags covering a body bearing fibrous material and/or protective clothing in the form of face masks and the like have become mandatory accessories to workmen involved with these operations.
Typically to assist in removing lagging materials from pipes and the like, a detachable bag which sealingly encompasses a section of the pipe is employed. This bag is formed with a pair of shaped flaps at its upper open end which are placed about a longitudinal portion of the pipe from opposite sides thereof so as to form an enclosure portion about the pipe. A fastening arrangement provided on the meeting edges of the flaps can then be operated to secure the bag to the pipe. The opposite ends of the flap portion can then be tied to sealingly engage the bag with the pipe. Generally the bag is also formed with a pair of arm portions which extend inwardly of the bag and which terminate with gloves so that an operator can insert his hands and perform manipulations within the interior of the bag for work on the pipe while maintaining isolation between the interior of the bag and the operator's hands. Thus fibrous material can be stripped from the pipe and collected within bag without risking exposure to the stripped fibrous material.
Exemplary of the state of the art of such flexible bag devices are U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,291 issued Dec. 2, , 1986 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,746,175 issued May 29, 1988.
While such prior art devices provide improvement in the area intended, there still exists a need for a new and improved flexible containment and disposable device of a character which permits removal of lagging or cladding materials from pipes (or other elongated bodies) over greater lengths of the pipes and which is simple in construction, efficient in use and economical in manufacture.
Accordingly, a principal desirable object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved flexible containment and disposable device having the foregoing characteristics.
A still further desirable object of the present invention is to provide a containment unit which minimizes assembly components and maximizes ease of assembly.
A still further desirable object of the present invention is to provide a containment unit which can be easily constructed in various sizes.
These and other desirable objects of the invention will in part appear hereinafter and will in part become apparent after consideration of the specification with reference to the accompanying drawings and the claims.